Castigate Countdown

[John Bosley]

I feel I will want to castigate Countdown if they do not give Michael Taiwo another chance after he lost on Thurs 8th Mar to Gerri Kostrzewa ..... as James Robinson said :-

Well, Gerri takes the lead for the first time today, and at exactly the right time too.
But.............. the CONTROVERSIAL-O-METER is reactivated, because it sounded like Gerri said CASTIGATES, which is of course incorrect, although you do really have to listen closely to hear it, so I think we should give her the benefit of the doubt on this one, but it is definitely another big talking point...........

Certainly not a big talking point here - unless I missed it.

[Jon Corby]

I've listened to it several times, and it doesn't clearly sound like CASTIGATES to me. It sounds more like CASTIGATE to me.

[Matt Morrison]

I think she probably said CAST IRON GATES as she is a bit scatty and had just remembered what she needed to buy on the way home. It's understandable that she would blurt it out so quickly with that level of excitement, and I bet she's glad her timing was so good now!

[Jon Corby]

I've just listened to it again, and it still sounds more like CASTIGATE to me than CASTIGATES. I think she would have emphasised the plurality of her declaration if that was her intentionalisation.

[John Bosley]

End of story then. I'm half deaf anyway.

[Jon Corby]

I've just listened to it again, and I'm still happy she says CASTIGATE.

[Michael Wallace]

I haven't listened to it yet, but I'm pretty sure she said CASTIGATE.

[Jon Corby]

I've got it playing on a continuous loop on my iPod, and it's sounded like CASTIGATE every time so far - bar once when it sounded like she was instructing me to torch my office.

[Mark Deeks]

Even if she did say CASTIGATES, just like Graeme may have said GALVANISED, they still solve it. Just misspoke. I'd still award it them.

[Innis Carson]

If you briefly sustain the final T sound in 'castigate', it sounds similar to 'castigates'. Probably what happened.

[Graeme Cole]

Even if she did say CASTIGATES, just like Graeme may have said GALVANISED, they still solve it. Just misspoke. I'd still award it them.

It's a difficult question of what to do when there's ambiguity about what the contestant answered. You've got three choices really - assume they gave the right answer, assume they gave the wrong answer, or ask the contestant to repeat it.

Asking them to repeat it might seem the fairest way to deal with it, but if you do that you might as well erect a large neon sign in the studio saying "that sounds exactly or almost exactly like the correct answer". A cheaty contestant might then change their answer if they realised they got it wrong; and if they really did get it wrong and honestly repeat their wrong answer, the other contestant then has a whacking great clue.

I think the best approach is: listen carefully, decide what they said, and if it's still ambiguous it's better to give them the benefit of the doubt rather than potentially disallow a perfectly valid answer, which might also confuse the other player if what they thought they heard was the right answer.

Regarding GALVANISE, I didn't even know that it sounded like it could have been GALVANISED until it was broadcast and someone else mentioned it. My conundrumming skills leave plenty to be desired, but luckily it appears Jeff reasoned that even I can see VAANGELIS hasn't got a D in it.

[Mark Deeks]

Regarding GALVANISE, I didn't even know that it sounded like it could have been GALVANISED until it was broadcast and someone else mentioned it.

Exactly. You solved it. If you misspoke slightly in the heat of the moment - if - that is no means to take it away from you. Especially if you didn't even know you'd done it.

[Adam Gillard]

Regarding GALVANISE, I didn't even know that it sounded like it could have been GALVANISED until it was broadcast and someone else mentioned it.

Exactly. You solved it. If you misspoke slightly in the heat of the moment - if - that is no means to take it away from you. Especially if you didn't even know you'd done it.

He didn't misspeak. He said GALVANISE. I was there (yes, I know you were too, but it may have sounded different from stage left). I also heard him saying GALVANISE many times on the train home. Even writing about it now I can still faintly hear him saying GALVANISE. It was a very memorable moment, after all. Also, I've done phonetics / ear training etc., so I agree with what Innis said about the final 't' sound in CASTIGATE becoming affricated when held ('ts') and it's probably just a similar misconception with the final 'z' sound in GALVANISE, which is very close to a 'd' sound.